Sunday, April 19, 2009

Primer is a good color for trim, right?

And the blue painter's tape? That makes a fabulous accent color. When we moved into this house 10 years ago it was in dire need of painting. Unfortunately we did one bedroom and never got any further and now 10 years, 2 cats and 3 dogs later the place is not looking so fabulous. Finally even we couldn't live with the grimy walls and since it rained all last weekend and snowed/rained/sleeted all this weekend we decided to take on the task. We've managed to get the laundry room done and the walls of the hallway but we still have to do the trim on 5 doorways leading into the hallway and the bathroom is all primer and sadly looks a lot better than it did before we started since I'm pretty sure there was mold growing on the ceiling.

There was the added fun of me being a somewhat messy worker (primer in my hair-it's how I do my highlights now for the recession) and Jonny going apoplectic over every tiny splatter of paint and then I'm a complete freak about doing things properly and everything looking perfect and Jonny is into the half assed approach. There have been some colorful exchanges over the past 2 weekends-at one point I had my fingers in my ears and was singing 'la la la, I can't hear you' for real-but by this evening we were both so tired and broken down that we gave up on our various neuroses and peace prevailed. Except for Strummer barking his head off at every single life form passing by the window and we couldn't banish him from the living room because of the paint. And you knew we weren't getting to the end of this story without Strummer getting covered in paint. Despite our best efforts at containment he's got a nice splash of primer on his shoulder which is not so bad compared to what I have in my hair. Or maybe this is the weekend where I finally start going grey, I didn't check all that closely.

We should get the hallway trim and bathroom done next weekend but I fear I may be living with the horrible minty green walls in the living room for another 10 years and I don't even want to think about the nightmare that is the kitchen.

Poor dogs, nothing but walks for them this weekend. Everywhere was covered with wet slushy snow and then mud. The weather is supposed to be hot and dry next week so hopefully things will dry out and we can get back to training. I signed up for 3 trials next month. Not every day of every trial and only a few runs each trial but still it will be kind of crazy and hopefully better than painting.

My husband wishes I would ban him from the painting. Heck, I wish he would ban me from the painting.

I'm going to the USDAA Brighton trial with just Lola and I'm missing the Pueblo trial for the first time in I can't even remember how many years. I love that show but I'm cutting down on the money I spend on trials and there are so many in May that don't require an overnight stay plus Strum's not ready for outdoors/2 rings. We'll be at the USDAA match in Co. Springs though, that one is really cheap and a couple of DOCNA trials for just one day/3 runs per dog.

I was laughing, picturing the chaos with the painting and the dogs and the half-assed husbandry. Partly because I just lived the dogs & paint fun a few weeks ago. Why is it that they need to be wherever the wet paint is? I guess I just feel too guilty putting them in crates and doing nothing with them while I paint, so I let them hang out and get the required rub-by on the fresh paint. Dog hair in the paint adds character after all. We've been in our house for over 9 years and its a perpetual remodel. That's what happens when your house was built in 1980 by a man who had to be 5'5 at best based on a number of lilliputian features throughout.

Poor Strum spent the whole weekend hopefully staring at us from the other side of a baby gate. He was so sure we were going to ask him for some help.

I was thinking dog hair in paint could be a trendy design feature.

Our house was built in the 40's or 50's and hasn't been remodeled since the 80's so we've got our work cut out for us. We also have low ceilings, doorways and light fixtures that our tall friends bump their heads on but we're both short ourselves so we don't even notice. And the stereo sounds great with the acoustics from the low ceilings.

Wonder if in 100 years when everyone is 6'6" tall if they will be calling us all short. We have a showerhead that is at chin level for me still, though much of the shortie stuff I have fixed, like doorknobs 6 inches below normal, a kitchen with a 7' ceiling, barn doors that I had to duck to walk through. Those houses from the 40's and 50's are a whole 'nuther deal though. We had one in California before we moved to this house. The complete lack of insulation was interesting.

Ours was actually originally built in downtown Boulder back in the 40's/50's and the people we bought it from moved it to north Boulder in the 80's-I don't know why, it's a dumpy little ranch house with nothing special about it. After they moved it they put in all new insulation, wiring, plumbing, windows etc. so that part's not so bad. The Totally 80's decor and fixtures/cabinets though, they are something special, especially in the bathroom.

We're still plugging away as $$ allows on the vintage 1978 elements of our house.

I actually like to paint because it's one of the few immediate gratification things in remodeling, but I'm married to a perfectionist ... so I don't get to do much, except keep the food coming and clean-up.

Yes, I'll be at Brighton. I'm with you on the cost of trials. I'm limiting Sage's runs to only what she needs for ADCH to save on money. Trying to get that last GP qualifier for Nationals for Sage (Summit needs two GP) and then both dogs are qualified for Nationals. WooHoo. And then I'll decide not to go:-)

I do all the painting at my house. It drives me crazy when there are drips on the wall. So eveyone stays away from the paint. I have to say not much painting has gotten done in the last few years since I started dog agility. LOL Every once in a while I do a touch up. Diana

Yeah, we were going to paint the whole house then we got dog #1. There still might have been a glimmer of hope after things settled down but then we got dog #2 and that was the nail in the coffin. And now with dog #3 you can just imagine how gross things were that we finally broke down and got a tiny bit of it done.

Do you really want to see pictures of my hallway and Totally 80's bathroom? Your wish is my command, once it's done. We're still living with primer trim and bathroom walls for the moment.

Morganne, you should go to Nationals at least the once if you've never been before. I won't go any more, mostly because of the fault limits and how expensive it is for what you get but I had a great time the first time I went, it was an interesting experience. Or maybe you've already been? And now I'm thinking I might go to Pueblo for Sunday morning only so Strum can get measured by a CMJ and Lola can have another shot at Gamblers. I'm also mostly entering her in only classes she needs for her Perf. ADCH but she only needs Gamblers and Standard so sometimes I'll throw her in something else so she can have another run. Not entering tournaments makes a huge difference, I'm glad Lola has all her legs and Strum's not quite ready for them yet.

When I bought this house in 2001, I painted and stripped wallpaper like crazy from close of escrow until the moment I had to move in. I had the kitchen all taped up with blue tape ready to paint the ceiling at that point.

In 2006, with my sister's imminent wedding in my back yard, I gave up and took down the tape.

And no matter what I did to keep the dogs out of the paint, they always ended up with paint on their bodies *somewhere*, even if I could have sworn they were never even in the same room. It's an instinctive skill.